Veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was really disappointed with Rishabh Pant’s shot selection in Wellington, saying if the youngster keeps wasting his chances, he may lose his spot to Dinesh Karthik in the national set-up.
In the first T20I against New Zealand, the young wicket-keeper batsman tried to reverse sweep the fast bowler a couple of times and eventually, lost his wicket to Mitchell Santner for just 4 off 10 balls in Wellington.
Harbhajan believes that Pant should avoid that and seize his chances to cement his place in the national side, as he is a talented cricketer and everyone are backing him, but if he keeps making such mistakes, then veteran keeper Karthik would certainly take up his spot in the national line-up, therefore he should be careful with his opportunities.
On Friday (8th February), Harbhajan told Sports Tak, “I was a bit disappointed with his [Pant's] shot selection. He tried to reverse sweep the fast bowler a couple of times. When you see a batsman playing shots like that, it tells he is not backing himself.”
He suggested, “He has to understand his game and strengths and play accordingly. He has all the shots in the book. He should keep the reverse sweep as the last option but he should keep it as his last option. Rishabh is a talented cricketer and that's why we are backing him a lot.”
Harbhajan signed off by saying, “We know, he can be a big match-winner. But if he keeps wasting his chances, keeps on playing innings and keeps making such shot selections, then I feel, Dinesh Karthik may take his spot. Dinesh Karthik is a proper batsman... he has been doing enough in the last few matches as well. So, I think, Rishabh Pant needs to get going in the upcoming matches.”
(With Sports Tak Inputs)
